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Nicklaus

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2010
263
3
Winter Park
Does the phone actually scan something on the screen of the phone or is that just a fancy trick to get you to hold the phone close enough that NFC or something will pair?
 

kovey

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2011
595
183
It displays a unique image that is scanned by the phone. I saw it in one of the early reviews. I don't remember which but they showed a picture. It's not a gimmick.
 

wesk702

macrumors 68000
Jul 7, 2007
1,809
368
The hood
No, I'm assuming that when you open the app it turns on the Bluetooth on the iPhone end. Then when you frame it correctly, it should be within close range of activating the pairing. Don't really think any trickery is involved or anything more complicated than that.
 

Payton

macrumors regular
Nov 23, 2006
103
5
Portland, OR
From the Wired article: http://www.wired.com/2015/04/the-apple-watch/

When you first pair your Watch with your phone, you see a unique certificate of authenticity.

Rose_gold_certificate-2_1440-1024x691.jpg
 

Cuyler

macrumors 6502
Jun 16, 2009
256
3
Chicago
Does the phone actually scan something on the screen of the phone or is that just a fancy trick to get you to hold the phone close enough that NFC or something will pair?
They can't use NFC because it's only available on the latest iPhone models (and the watch can be paired with the iPhone 5 and later).
 

sulpfiction

macrumors 68040
Aug 16, 2011
3,073
601
Philadelphia Area
No, I'm assuming that when you open the app it turns on the Bluetooth on the iPhone end. Then when you frame it correctly, it should be within close range of activating the pairing. Don't really think any trickery is involved or anything more complicated than that.

No, the phone actually reads something from the watch screen. It's not just so you hold it close enough. I've seen some other posts about "framing the watch" where people think that it's just a meaningless step apple added "for fun" and its really on using BT. I honestly can't believe anyone would think that. I didn't know what the reason or meaning was until just now when I saw the above post. But I also knew Apple would NEVER throw in a useless technique just for the sake of "fun" or just to make sure you were close enough for BT pairing.
 

dedufour41

macrumors regular
Mar 24, 2015
133
9
New York
Anyone who owns a GoPro camera and uses the iOS app to go along with it is already used to this technology. It is awesome to use and I've been doing this for over a year.

When the #⌚️ was first being discussed here and folks were talking about which apps they wanted to see, the first one I wrote here was GoPro. To be able to do all of your controls from your wrist is a no-brainer.

I use my iPhone as a view finder for the camera and then attached my GoPro remote to a wrist strap. The #⌚️ Could presumably handle both functions. The only caveat would be water submersion but I would say I use my GoPro underwater only half the time anyway.
 
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